Defenders of Illegal Immigrants Need to Refer to Law of the Land
I became depressed after reading the Oct. 17 article, “Don’t Prejudice Immigrant Study, Stanton Tells Critics.”
The article describes Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Roger R. Stanton’s concern regarding potential uproar over a study that seeks to assess the costs of providing county health and social services to legal and illegal immigrants.
It further quotes UC Irvine Prof. Leo Chavez as warning that such a study would send a message to illegal immigrants “that they should move on” and that, “What you’re doing is putting a little star on people’s heads and telling them that they are different.”
Well, Mr. Chavez, they are different. They’re not legal residents. Exactly when did we, the legal residents of California, get to vote on the question of whether we wish to provide money for services to people who are here illegally?
Now we must worry about even studying the question. Worse, people like Chavez provide a thinly veiled suggestion that to do so makes us little more than modern-day Nazis.
How depressing! We are sympathetic to the needs of these people, but we are a nation of law, and if such laws are to be made intelligently, we must have free and open inquiry.
ROBERT T. SCHAEFER, Anaheim
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